This private company has established a significant market share in the competitive Australian mobile telephone market, through achieving its business objectives of providing quality customer service and offering the best possible prices. The business strategy is to offer better customer value than competitors in the market place. His positive attitude to life and work is summed up by his comment below: “If you’re really intense and you work hard enough and you believe in what you want, you can do anything. Anything is possible”. How can we do business differently? How can we do business better? When addressing these questions, John Ilhan requires everyone working in the business, including himself, to always remember to not become too complacent or arrogant as a result of success. Everyone must listen to customers, staff, organisations and the community, in order for Crazy John’s to continue to prosper. John is an entrepreneur. The concept of entrepreneurship is about coming up with creative business ideas (often involving risk-taking) and then finding enough resources and opportunities to put these ideas into action. Characteristics that help describe the entrepreneurial spirit are passion, perseverance, ability to solve problems and a never-give-up attitude to life. It’s these traits that can help the entrepreneur create a successful future in the business world. Entrepreneurs like John Ilhan contribute significantly to the ongoing success of Australia’s economy through job creation, promoting competition and by implementing innovative new ideas when starting a business. Many successful entrepreneurs are people focused and able to motivate their staff on the journey to achieving the goals set by the business. An entrepreneur cannot just set up a business and sit back and wait for it all to happen. Consumer tastes change and the entrepreneur needs to generate and apply innovative ideas to ensure the business is providing what the customer wants. Crazy John’s brand and business is innovative for a number of reasons. It has a catchy business name, a well- known mascot and is viewed as offering value to the market both in terms of price and service levels. Being an innovator that looks to create better goods or services at every opportunity is a key strategy to being a successful entrepreneur. John had the entrepreneurial vision to see there was a gap in the mobile telephone market: he saw that retailers were not offering competitive pricing or a decent level of service to their customers and so went about filling this niche. John Ilhan had a variety of experiences before opening his first store. John started an arts degree and worked for Ford, selling fleets of cars. He then had a position selling telephones at a well-known electronics retailer. As one of the firm’s best salesmen, he opened a new store for them. It soon became the most profitable of the firm’s Victorian outlets. John identified the poor customer service that was offered as a result of little competition in the industry. And that dream of improving his lot in life lingered – as did the house by the water… and, well, he was 31 and perhaps it was time to leave home! John understood people and the importance of providing great service in a growing and changing industry. He eventually started his own business, selling mobile telephones. He believed that an honest approach was the best approach to doing business, so he was ‘up front’ with his customers. He explained his profit margins and the fact that he needed help from customers to meet his targets. To achieve set goals, however, and to obtain finance and meet business objectives, it is essential to prepare a robust business plan. A business plan is a like a road map in that it can guide the business in its operations and activities, both now and in the future. Unique selling point Provide an appealing sales difference to your competitors. In a competitive marketplace, developing a unique selling point that differentiates your business from that of your competitors is a beneficial way to build a profitable and successful business. With a focus on good, friendly customer service at affordable prices, customers were more than happy to take advantage of Crazy John’s approach to business, although competitors were less impressed with his success. Crazy John’s also established alliances with key suppliers, for example, being a leading retailer in Telstra MobileNet connections and handsets. Customers knew they could get competitive deals. Today, Crazy John’s is helping businesses access the latest mobile, voice and data technology, through alliances with Telstra, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung (among others). John Ilhan is an entrepreneur who started out with nothing. He has been able to build Crazy John’s from a single store to a household name and achieve the number one position in mobile telephone retailing in Australia. Each store reinforces the brand values of great service, the biggest range and the best mobile telephone deals. John’s belief in himself is an inspiration and demonstrates that regardless of your background or education, with some vision and willingness to work hard, you can do more than just dream. He knows, however, that the business must listen to customers, staff, other people, organisations and the community to remain at the top of a very competitive industry. | 
